School of Social Work

In review: Academic year 2010-2011 

• In January 2011 School of Social Work welcomed Dr. Winnie Ng, Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy. While this is a cross appointment with the Department of Politics, the School is delighted that her "home" is within the School of Social Work.
• Over the course of the academich year much work went into the development of Certificate in Community Engagement, Development and Leadership. The certificate, which will be offered through the Chang School received Senate approval in April.
• Field education occupies a central place in the Social Work curriculum and there were a number of developments in this area. Long offered to students in the Ryerson/FNTI social work program, this year students in our on-campus program, who had extensive social service work experience and who were currently working full time in such a setting, had the opportunity to do a portfolio in lieu of a field "placement". The portfolios required that students identify specific learning goals to enhance their social work practice knowlege and skill, engage in activities to meet these goals and provide evidence that these learning goals had been achieived. Another important innovation, developed with "Student Engagement" funding from the Dean was a series of four mandatory workshops for students in the second year of the program, to better prepare them for their first field placement. The workshops were very well received and will be continued in 2011-2012, and hopefully, beyond.
• As always, the Field Education Office held workshops for Field Instructors. These workshops provided key information about the role and responsibilities of Field Instructors, offered an orientation to the social work program at Ryerson and focused on some key areas of field instruction including, for example, the development of learning contracts and evaluating students. In addition to these four training workshops for field instructors, the FEO also offers two workshops in each academic year as part of series entitled Critical Thinking for Critical Practices. This year, the focus was on racism with the first in November and the second in March.
• In April, the Field Education Office welcomed a Manager,Floydeen Charles-Fridal. Floydeen who has a BA from University of Toronto and a MSW from University of South Florida, has a long and varied social work practice background, in both Ontario and Florida, encompassing residential services, health care and community-based work with seniors. She has been a Field Instructor in the past, and has a long history of community activism.
• In June 2011, fifteen student will graduate from the Ryerson/FNTI Social Work program, bringing to forty-one the total number of graduates from this program, since its inception in 2004. This program, a collaboration between the Ryerson School of Social Work and First Nations Technical Institute (FNTI) provides social work education to Indigenous students from Ontario. Geared to experienced social service practitioners who have already completed a social service diploma or equivalent, after completed some prerequisite courses, the students are accepted as Advanced Standing students. Twenty–two Indigenous applicants for cohort 4 were approved by Ryerson’s Admissions to enter this undergraduate social work program. After participating in a successful Culture Camp, students are completing their first practice seminars and field practicum courses. Classes are held off-campus and delivered in intensive format. Students in the fourth cohort should complete all requirements for their degree, convocating in June 2013. Work is now underway to finalize an agreement and to begin recruitment for a fifth cohort of students.